Award Categories

Graduate Employee of the Year

This award recognises a recent graduate of the University of Wolverhampton who has made a significant impact within a business or organisation.

Has a University of Wolverhampton graduate had a huge impact on your business? Have their graduate level skills and/or knowledge contributed to increased sales, profit or better working processes? Have they implemented a new innovation or way of working within the organisation that has enabled the business to grow, diversify or be more efficient?

Employers are encouraged to nominate employees who can demonstrate a significant impact on a business. The judges are looking for a business to provide details on the level of impact the graduate has had, how this impact has been acheived by the graduate and the measurable results of the impact.

Please note that the award recognises a recent graduate that must have graduated from the University of Wolverhampton in the last three years.

Nominations have now closed and the shortlisted finalists can be viewed here.

Graduate Employer of the Year

This award recognises a business or organisation that actively recruits University of Wolverhampton graduates, providing them with relevant work experience and the opportunity to further develop their professional skills.

Does your business or organisation provide University of Wolverhampton graduates the chance to kickstart their careers? Graduate Employer of the Year is awarded to a business or organisation that has consistently offered University of Wolverhampton graduates a holistic, rewarding and rounded start in work.

The successful business or organisation will have shown that they provide opportunities for graduates to apply their graduate level skills and become an appreciated and valued member of staff, developing both professionally and personally within the job role.

Nominations have now closed and the shortlisted finalists can be viewed here.

Graduate Start-up of the Year

This award celebrates an outstanding graduate start-up, created in the last two years, that has successfully gone on to trade and grow within that time.

Are you a University of Wolverhampton graduate who has started a business in the last two years? Has that business gone on to trade successfully, become sustainable and does it have ambitions for growth? Would an award highlighting your start-up’s development and achievements be among those ambitions?

This award seeks to recognise the success of new businesses, and the University of Wolverhampton graduates behind them, that have had a positive impact on the local economy. As well as providing employment opportunities for the local area, the start-up should also demonstrate aspirations to grow and be innovative in its field, beyond the two year period.

The winning start-up business will be awarded with £3,000 to be invested to support future growth of the business.

Nominations have now closed and the shortlisted finalists can be viewed here.

The winner for this award will be selected by the audience from the shortlist on the night of the awards, using an interactive voting system.

Academic Expert of the Year

This award recognises an academic partner from the University of Wolverhampton that has made a significant impact through their work, have made a significant impact and contributed to the success of a business or organisation.

At the University of Wolverhampton we have approximately 1,000 academic experts who work with a number of businesses and organisations throughout the year, to provide expertise and insight to aid business performance, transformational programmes and growth projects.

Has one of our academic members of staff made a significant contribution to your organisation? Have they supported your business to grow or diversify through knowledge transfer or research activities? Then we want to hear from you.

Nominations have now closed and the shortlisted finalists can be viewed here.

Business Collaboration of the Year

This award recognises a business that has shown improvements in business performance and/or competitiveness through its collaboration and partnership-working with the University of Wolverhampton.

The Business Collaboration of the Year award seeks to find an organisation who, through working with the University, has demonstrated a significant increase in business competiveness. The winner of this award must show how its partnership, whether short or long-term, with the University has enhanced its business performance.

Judges will specifically be looking at how the business collaborated with the University on either knowledge transfer, consultancy and/or research-based projects that have enhanced business performance and made a step change in the organisation.

Nominations have now closed and the shortlisted finalists can be viewed here.

Business Leader of the Year

This award recognises an alumnus of the university, who has gone on to make an important contribution to a business, industry or community through innovative leadership.

The judges are looking for an outstanding leader within business and industry, who has graduated from the University.

The winner of this award will be able to demonstrate a rise to a position of leadership and how their leadership skills have enabled them to contribute to an improvement in how business is done within a company, industry or community.

Nominations have now closed and the shortlisted finalists can be viewed here.

Strategic Business Partner of the Year

This award recognises a business or organisation that has worked with the University of Wolverhampton on a number of key projects that support the University to meet its overall goals.

The business or organisation will be a significant partner to the University and be able to show their shared values and commitment to the University's overall strategic aims. They will have had multiple engagements and supported the University to deliver a number of their initiatives.

The business or organisation can be of any size and from any sector. They will be able to outline the programmes and projects they have worked on in partnership with the University, and how their long-term, continuous relationship has enabled the University to meet its strategic vision.

Judges are looking for businesses that may have partnered on some or all of the following joint initiatives: graduate employability, regeneration programmes, global initiatives that support skills and the economy, raising aspirations of the local community, research that has had/is having real life impact and supporting to promote Wolverhampton and the Black Country.

Nominations have now closed and the shortlisted finalists can be viewed here.